Chapter 1: Stella Nicholls Figures Out Magic
Notes:
honestly, this fic is p much just for me and one of my partners bc this fandom is criminally small, and this movie came out three years ago
but yk what? who cares! i love chuck and auggie too much to not make a fic for them <3
but, if you happen to be reading this, thank you so much for that, and i hope you enjoy this hunk of a fix-it
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Ruth is the one who ends up starting the conversation. Stella doesn’t know whether it’s because it’s her brother that’s gone, or if Stella just didn’t know how to start the conversation, or what.
But, either way, it’s Ruth who first brings it up.
“So, how are we going to get them back?”
Stella sighs, tapping nervously at her leg. “I have an idea. I don’t know how well it would work or the logistics, though.”
They’re sitting in Stella’s bedroom, only a day after Ramón left. Ruth came over. Presumably to discuss how to… reverse what’s been done. Well, at this point, Stella knows that’s what she came to discuss. She wants her brother back. There’s no shame in that.
“Explain,” Ruth demands. Ruth is sitting on Stella’s bed, while Stella fiddles with Sarah’s book and stands. Ruth absently scratches at her scar.
“Well, I have the book, and Sarah gave me permission to write in it. So, hypothetically, I could just write amendments to the stories about Auggie and Chuck,” Stella says. “I… I just don’t know if it would actually work.”
“We have to try it, right?” Ruth took Stella’s hand and squeezed it lightly.
“Yeah,” Stella replies, “Yeah, I guess we do.”
They both mutually agreed that they should try to get Tommy back first. Neither of them like Tommy or particularly want him back, but it seemed cruel to let him suffer as a scarecrow for the rest of eternity. And, selfishly, if Stella’s plan didn’t work, they wouldn’t be too disappointed about Tommy not coming back.
They needed to stay close to the scarecrow when they tried, to see if Tommy would come back, and to help him if he needed it. Stella can imagine how jarring it would be to be turned back into a human like that. And while they still hated him, once again, he doesn’t deserve what happened to him.
So, the next day, Stella and Ruth meet by the cornfield in the early afternoon. It’s early winter at this point, so they need light jackets. Stella’s pale face is red and flushed under the cold. Ruth’s scar looks puffy, but the rest of her face is staying the right color. Her arms are crossed tightly and her posture is as impeccable as ever.
Stella has Sarah’s book clutched under her arm. “Let’s do this,” she murmurs. Ruth nods.
“Yeah,” she responds, too grim for Stella’s liking. Both of them are. That’s what happens when you lose the only people you love, Stella guesses.
Stella doesn’t entirely know how Ruth feels, but she knows that it can’t be good. Ruth loved Chuck, no matter how much they picked on each other. She’s lost her only brother. Hell, her only sibling. And, Stella has no idea how it’s been affecting their parents. So, Stella’s been trying to tread carefully.
They’re standing a good distance away from the actual scarecrow. They don’t know what’s gonna happen. They just don’t know. That’s probably the worst part of all of this. That they’re going in entirely blind.
Stella glances at Ruth. The sun beats down on her face, somehow casting no heat onto her. Ruth nods sternly. Stella nods back and turns to the book, open to the story about Harold the scarecrow.
Stella anticipates the hardest part of doing this, for her, will be starting it. Pricking her finger and starting to add on words. (Stella and Ruth decided that crossing out Sarah’s writing was too dangerous, so Stella can only write add-ons.)
Before she can actually think twice, Stella pricks her left pointer finger and uses the blood to start writing.
Ruth hooks her chin over Stella’s shoulder to watch.
“Stella and Ruth went to the cornfield on a day in early winter.”
Ruth shudders and places a hand on Stella’s back. Stella can’t help but shudder in response. She already feels some of the energy being drained from her, even though she’s only written one sentence.
“The two girls hear a sudden creaking sound coming from the field. Ruth looks up and gasps to see Harold the scarecrow moving upwards in the wind.”
Ruth follows her description in the book while Stella tries to keep her eyes focused on writing. She doesn’t want to see what’s happening just yet.
“Harold starts pulling handfuls of hay out of his stomach and face, stumbling forward off of his post. After a few minutes of ripping hay out of his body, Tommy Milner is finally back to normal.”
Stella’s purposely very vague as she writes this. She has no desire to describe Tommy’s pain in detail as Sarah had. (And, it’s draining to write in the book. She doesn’t know how much more she could have written.)
Now, all there’s left to do is wait.
It’s brutal, and the two girls hated watching it, but, after a bit, Tommy Milner is back in business. He stumbled towards his house without even noticing Stella and Ruth standing only fifty feet away.
Walking home after getting Tommy back was a different and new kind of melancholy feeling for both of them. They walk slowly to let Stella catch her breath after writing. Now they know that their plan works. Which is good, but it’s terrifying because now they have to actually get their friends back.
But, right now, that doesn’t matter entirely. Stella knew that if getting Tommy back worked, she would need to tell Ruth about what was on her mind.
Stella crosses her arms, uncomfortable. “You know we have to get Auggie back first, right?”
Ruth looks incredibly pained at this. “Yeah. Yeah, I know.”
“He got put away first and… and we have no idea how to get into the hospital,” Stella adds.
Ruth nods and turns her head away. “I know, Stella. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
That’s fair. Stella shuts up.
In the end, the walk home still has undertones of hopefulness. They’ll get Chuck and Auggie back and Ruth and Stella’s lives will be okay again. Stella can’t wait for that- to be okay again. She misses her best friends like a physical pain in her stomach. It’s in the corner of her mind at all times. She can’t ever forget, not even for a moment. She might develop stress ulcers before they’re back. She can only hope that they’re as ready for her as she is for them.
---
Like Tommy, Auggie was pretty easy to get back. Auggie’s mom and step dad are out of town a lot, and Stella luckily knows where Auggie’s spare key is, (buried in the flowerpot to the left of the door), so all they had to do was wait for Auggie’s parents to leave for a bit before just… walking in.
That fateful day comes three weeks after Tommy is back.
Stella and Ruth make it into Auggie’s house pretty easily, as expected. It’s harder to walk through the house knowing that Auggie’s not there, though. It feels weird. And unfair.
Auggie’s room smells dusty. It’s clear his mom hasn’t been in there for a while. Grief, something, or other. He’s been gone for almost two months now.
When Ruth pulls the bed aside, there’s a thick coating of dust under it. Auggie would hate coming back to that, so Stella does her best to clean it up with paper towels and a spray she went to find in the kitchen.
Finally, she was ready.
She started writing.
Notes:
stella is mvp of the story shes so good at everything tbh
Chapter 2: Auggie Hilderbrandt Is Scared Of The Dark
Notes:
yesss!! omg!!!!! auggie time!!!!! i love him so much omfg
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
It seems unimportant right now, but Auggie realizes he’s been screaming.
He’s screaming, and maybe he has been for a really long time. It’s pretty hard to tell what’s happening in the endless darkness he’s been surrounded by for… how long has it been? It feels like it’s been forever.
His fingers are always scratching at the ground and he’s always screaming. Everything hurts. The totality of the darkness, the pitch black surrounding him, is scary. Beyond scary. Terrifying. He can’t even see his fingers in front of him, he just has to trust that they’re there. (Well, he knows that they’re there because of how well he can feel them.) And he’s always just being dragged backwards, aimlessly and endlessly.
It’s terrible.
Then, the pressure on his ankles evaporates. Which is very different than usual, and when he’s been surrounded by the exact same things for however fucking long, different is scary. He flails helplessly on the floor for a moment, reveling in and despising the newfound freedom of his legs.
Then he notices the spots swimming in front of his eyes which is something that doesn’t happen when you’re in pitch dark and he miraculously screams louder, despite his course throat and the imminent terror rising like bile in his throat.
A hand lands on his back and his eyes fly open.
He’s just- he’s just laying on his stomach in his bedroom.
His screaming peters out into nothing.
After a moment, his vision finally clears up and he sees Stella- and Ruth- sitting in front of him, trying to do something- he doesn’t know what.
(If Stella and Ruth are here then where the hell is Chuck? Where the hell is he?!)
Ruth gently takes his hands. Ruth has never been particularly gentle with him, much less comforting, but Auggie has never been so glad for someone to be touching him.
He then remembers that someone’s hand is on his back- he glances over, and it’s definitely Stella’s hand, which calms him down a little bit.
But, he’s still on the floor, so the woman could still grab him, which is terrifying. He springs to his knees, shaking Ruth and Stella off of him, and scrambles away, to the farthest wall. All at the same time, his hearing clears.
“-uggie! Auggie, it’s okay, you’re okay,” Stella moves to crawl closer. Ruth makes no attempt to move. She just sits there, her hands wringing around each other.
Auggie sobs.
What’s going on? What’s going on?
He must have said that out loud because Stella responds.
“Hey, it’s okay, Auggie,” Stella says, holding her arms out comfortingly. “You’re home. You’re safe.”
Auggie lets out a snotty sort of croak and falls into Stella’s arms. She immediately embraces him tightly, giving him the comfort he’s needed.
He sobs into her arms, not caring that Ruth’s watching, not caring that his throat is hoarse and that his sore fingers scrabble for friction against Stella’s back, not caring that his front side is aching from being dragged for so long. He doesn’t know if Stella’s ever seen him cry other than now. He doesn’t think he cares about that either.
Ruth starts rubbing his shoulder. He doesn’t know when she moved. He doesn’t fucking care.
---
Stella said that Auggie could stay at her place for the night. She said she would explain more when they got there. Which is fine. Auggie doesn’t really know what she’s meant to be explaining, though. That’s okay.
He showered and changed before he left for Stella’s. Warm water stung.
Stella’s house felt one million percent more welcoming than his own. For one, it didn’t remind him of everything that happened. And, for another thing, it helped him confirm this was… real. For a bit there he couldn’t tell whether he had gone crazy enough to be hallucinating or not. And while he still doesn’t know for sure, this definitely feels real.
Once he’s secure in the house, (the door is locked, Stella is holding his arm, he’s safe), Stella starts to take him to the stairs. He’s essentially dragged up them and into Stella’s bathroom.
She sits him down on the toilet seat, sticks his hand in the sink, and starts cleaning.
Auggie didn’t realize just how torn up they were. His fingernails are filed down all the way to his cuticles, the skin itself is torn and bloody, some of it completely dried and some of it newer and bright red.
Stella washes them with soap and water first. While she does that she explains everything that happened with Sarah. She tries to be gentle, but Auggie still has to suppress a flinch every time she starts scrubbing a new finger.
Then, she pulls out alcohol wipes and starts running those along Auggie’s fingers. That stings more.
“When we brought Tommy back, everyone just kind of accepted it as if he never went missing,” Stella says. “I think the same’s gonna happen with you.”
“My mom?” Auggie manages in a low croaky voice.
“She’s gone on a trip. I’m sorry she’s not here right now, but we had to wait until she was gone to bring you back. But, she’ll be back in a day or two, and she won’t even remember that you were gone, hopefully.”
“Yeah. Okay,” Auggie says. His voice sounds gravelly and scratchy, even to his own ears.
Stella squeezes his hand and smiles at him, albeit a bit weakly. “You don’t have to respond. It probably hurts, yeah?”
Auggie nods.
“Yeah, it’s okay. Don’t talk then. I’ll just talk.”
And talk she did. She explained how Auggie didn’t have to go to school for a few days, (they could lie and say he’s sick until he’s ready), she talked about Ramón, how he went off to war, how Stella’s been writing, she talked about Ruth, her dad, and everything while she massaged Neosporin into his fingertips. (That actually felt good.)
“Ruth’s coming over in a few,” Stella finishes with, as she applies a bandaid on Auggie’s left pointer finger, which was especially screwed up. Auggie nods in response.
Stella then leads Auggie to her room. It’s cleaner than it was the last time he was there. It was never super dirty, but sometimes Stella would get careless and let her horror memorabilia litter the floor. Right now her room was spotless. Even under the bed.
Even under the fucking bed.
Holy shit it’s right there and dark and empty and shit shit shit shit.
Auggie immediately slams his body against the farthest wall from the bed. She’s here. The rotting corpse is here to take Auggie again, to take him away from his mom, and his friends, and life, and everything. He just got back, he doesn’t want to leave, holy shit, oh no.
He doesn’t think he can breathe.
Breaths exit his mouth in odd shallow gasps, in a way that doesn’t actually suck any air into his lungs. He feels encased by gut wrenching panic.
He bites his tongue and releases a hissing, pained noise.
Stella’s hand becomes a quick, heavy, comforting presence on his shoulders.
“Auggie, it’s okay,” Stella says. “I’m sorry. I’ll- I’ll put things under my bed. Nothing’s gonna get you. I’m here with you, anyways.”
“I-” Auggie half-sobs. “Fuck. Sorry. I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t say that.” Stella pulls him close into her arms. “You’re okay. You don’t need to apologize.”
Auggie sobs again. He almost feels like he’s been diminished to nothing. He feels bad for Stella- she didn’t sign up to deal with him while he’s acting like… this. He’s so fucked up. He’s so fucked up and he doesn’t know how he’s gonna get better.
Stella rubs his back in circles, comfortingly. It does a medium amount to comfort him. His eyes are still blown open. Because if he closes them, he won’t have any eyes on the bed, and that’s when shit’ll hit the fan. The lady got him in the first place because he wasn’t paying attention to the door, and now she’s going to catch him off guard again, he just knows it.
When they separate from each other, Stella starts stuffing boxes, books, paper, and anything she can find under her bed. Soon, the darkness under there diminishes, and there’s no free space to wonder about.
Stella pats his back, Auggie sighs in relief.
They spend the early afternoon getting food for Auggie to eat. It’s hard for him. It feels… wrong. He has to spend, like, fifteen minutes inspecting his stupid sandwich, because he feels like he might eat some miscellaneous body item. It is beyond irrational, but he can’t get the idea of eating another fucking toe out of his mind.
And, God forbid setting foot inside Stella’s kitchen. He had to stay in the dining room.
While he was eating his sandwich, (way too slowly for a normal person), Stella nudged his arm. He looked up at her, and she was smiling, apprehensively. “I love you, Auggie. You and Ruth and… Chuck. I love you guys. I missed you.”
Chuck.
Auggie nods. “I love you too.”
They sit in silence for a second.
“But… I just… Where is he?” Auggie asks.
Stella sighs. “Chuck?”
“Yeah. I-” Auggie stares at her. “I’ve missed him. Where is he?”
Stella smiles. “I knew you guys liked each other. But… uh. It's not easy to say this, but, he got a story too. He’s gone. For… For now.”
Auggie stares at her. He kinda expected that. It doesn’t make it any easier to hear. “We’re gonna get him back, right?”
“Yeah. Yeah, of course we are. But, it’s hard to get back into the hospital where he got taken because… uhm, we’re kinda banned for any non-medical reasons, currently.”
Okay, that’s surprising. But, even despite it’s stupidity, he finds himself laughing. “How the hell did that happen?”
Stella laughs too, and it feels like it did before everything happened for a moment.
When Ruth gets there, it feels weird. Because, it’s weird to actually talk to her, without her digging on Chuck or being mean. It’s weird for her to actually be nice.
But, most of all, it’s weird to be around her without Chuck there at all.
Stella lets Auggie take her bed for the next few nights. Auggie doesn’t know if he would be able to deal with sleeping on the floor. They also have to leave the lights on for him. He was too scared in the dark. He never really liked the dark, but he feels like a fucking baby who has to sleep with the light on.
At least he’s not dead. And he’s back home.
So everything’s fine.
---
School is weird without Chuck to walk with him in between classes or to make faces at him while their English teacher just drones on. It’s weird sitting with just Stella at lunch, just talking about everything, no Chuck to antagonize him.
He misses Chuck so much. Of course he missed Chuck when he was being fucking drowned in darkness, but that was different. It was different because back when he was in the void, he thought he would never be back in the real world, would never be back with Chuck and Stella, but now here he is in the real world, without Chuck, and everything feels so fucked still.
At least Stella was right about how everyone would just forget he was ever gone. Because, everyone just treated him like he was sick for a bit, but now he’s back. It’s a weird feeling to know that you were gone and no one else remembers. And, having his mom back might have been one of the best parts. He forgot how comforting and fucking… loving she was. He had almost forgotten what it was like to have a mom, to have family. And, while she seems a little bit concerned about how he’s acting weird, she’s still great.
Jeff is just kind of there, though, as always. Auggie’s never been fond of his step dad.
Auggie just misses Chuck. He always felt different about Chuck than he did other people. Chuck was always his closest, best friend. They knew everything about each other. And he was a dick, of course he was, he’s fucking Chuck, but Auggie still felt indescribable ways about him.
He can’t wait for Chuck to be back. He can’t wait to get him back so that he can be in Auggie’s life again. So that they can help each other through whatever shit he’s sure to go through too. He’ll probably be different, just like how Auggie’s different. But, Auggie will stick by him. He’ll help where he can.
He just needs Chuck back.
---
From what he hears, they’ll have an opportunity to get into the hospital today. Ruth’s been able to keep a close eye on the best times to get in there because she has a second cousin, or something, who works there.
And the best time is tonight. Tonight, in early January. Past the hospital's busiest hours, when most patients are asleep, they can make their way around the back of the hospital to get to the hallway that Chuck got taken away in.
Ruth leads them there easily at ten at night. Stella told Auggie that he didn’t have to come if he didn’t want to, but Auggie wouldn’t feel right if he stayed home that night. He needed to be there to see Chuck. He needed to.
Watching Stella write in the book was almost creepy. She had to use her own blood. And watching her write Chuck’s name? That made him shudder. (Well, in the book, he’s called Charlie, which he hasn’t been called since second grade. The only other person who calls him that anymore is… Auggie. Sometimes.)
Then, Auggie doesn’t really know how it happened, but he had a grip on Chuck’s right hand and Ruth on his left. They were pulling him out of something. Something that looked kind of like skin. Or flesh.
They pulled and pulled, but he barely responded, his head lolling around almost helplessly. For a moment Auggie thought that he might be dead. But, he forces that thought out of his head as quickly as it arrived.
When Chuck finally is out and laying on the pristine floors he seems to be breathing very shallowly, forcing air in and out of his lungs as quickly as he can. He’s kinda slimy and gross, but even Ruth doesn’t seem to care.
Then, his eyes fly open and he takes a huge breath, probably the biggest that he can muster. Then, he passes out.
Notes:
next is a chuck chapter oooh!!
Chapter 3: Chuck Steinberg Loves A Boy
Chapter Text
See, Chuck was never the kinda guy to get scared easily. He didn’t have any big phobias, he liked scary movies fine, (Stella was always the nerd about it), and when everything came to it, he had no qualms about walking into the Bellow’s house. But, it’s different experiencing that shit. Seeing the old lady and the dog? That was scary. The pale lady coming to take him? Scary as shit, yeah. And, being trapped in the old lady for fucking eternity (he guesses).
But what was even scarier than all that shit? Knowing that Auggie was trapped in a similar hell to him. Shit, he read Auggie’s story. He gets dragged off into darkness by that creepy ass toe-lady. So, that probably means he’s in total darkness just being dragged by his ankles right now. That’s scary as hell. Auggie never was fond of the dark.
For Chuck, though, his hell was a slimy, wet, dimly lit, fleshy prison. He can hardly move an inch, and he can only move that much when he’s pushing on the meat of the walls with his full force. He doesn’t know why it’s even remotely bright in what he can only assume is the pale lady’s stomach. Weirdly enough, though, he can see. Not well, but he can definitely see. It’s like being in a room with a nightlight on, or some shit. It’s dark but not pitch black.
Chuck doesn’t really know if he would like seeing nothing better than this.
It’s gross seeing the slime coagulate around his fingers, to constantly have the knowledge of how fucking trapped he really is, and always see the fleshy meat surrounding him. It’s gross and terrifying and he hates it. It’s always damp, and it’s always partially warm, surrounding him like a blanket.
Another really shitty part about all of this is that he can barely breathe.
He thinks he might want to die.
Anything is better than this.
Anything.
So, yeah, it’s kind of a fucking relief when he’s pulled out of there.
For some reason he can’t really respond to what the people pulling him are doing or saying. He feels totally drained, even though his thoughts are going a million miles an hour. He can’t open his eyes to see who’s getting him out of there, but he can only hope that it’s Stella. Not something else, trying to take him to a new, scarier place, or some shit.
He feels pretty limp as he’s dragged out onto the floor. The floor feels like goddamn heaven compared to that fleshy fucking prison.
He manages to open his eyes for a moment, and, wow, there’s Auggie. That’s a lot. He looks… wow. Just, wow. Chuck is out, and he’s seeing Auggie. That’s something for the history books. A few minutes ago, he would have killed to see Auggie, but now here he is. Right in front of Chuck. He looks extremely concerned. Chuck wishes he could comfort him, but he is once again struck by his absolute lack of movement in his body.
Then, everything goes black, and maybe Chuck is okay with that. Auggie is a good last sight to see.
---
When Chuck wakes up, he still can’t open his eyes for a while. He feels groggy, muddled, like his thoughts can’t catch up with what’s happening around him. People are talking but he can’t make out words, or separate voices, he only knows there are multiple people because of the vastly different tones the words provided. Everything was overlapping everything else. Everything hurts. His arm twitches involuntarily. Even that hurts.
When he opens his eyes just a sliver, his eyelids feel sore when he opens them, and he groans in response to that. The conversation abruptly stops when he makes that noise. He can just barely make out three blurry figures.
One of them- blond hair, he assumes it’s Ruth, what’s Ruthy doing here?- moves to his right side and takes something off of his forehead. It’s a cloth- he apparently had a damp cloth on his forehead and did not notice. She dips it in a bowl full of water next to her and replaces it. As his vision clears up more, he gets to see that she has a smile on her face. Like she’s happy to see him, or something. That’s a first. “You in there, Chuck?”
Chuck manages to hum in affirmation after a few moments. His throat feels hoarse from disuse, It’s been a while since he’s needed to speak. How long has it been anyways?
The three figures all let out an identical sigh of relief. Oh, shit, while he’s at it, he should probably figure out who the other two people are. And where he is.
The other people are Auggie and Stella, which is to be expected. Wait, no the fuck it’s not, since when does Ruth associate herself with Auggie and Stella, even remotely?
Auggie’s sitting on Chuck’s right side, in a chair. Chuck kind of belatedly realizes himself to be in a bed. Auggie’s feet are pulled up on the chair, the boy seemingly unwilling to let his feet land on the floor. Huh.
Stella’s sitting herself on the end of the bed. His bed. Oh shit, yeah, this is Chuck’s bed. He’s in his room. That’s… a nice change. A welcome change, yeah.
Auggie is clutching onto his hand very tightly. He’s still looking concerned.
“Hey, Auggie,” Chuck musters, with a mealy smile.
Auggie nearly melts, from the looks of it. “Heya, Chuck. That brain still hanging in there?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Chuck slurs. “Feels alright.”
“Yeah, big guy?” Stella asks. He’s too out of it to detect the slight patronizing tone. “You have a fever of one hundred and two.”
“Ah, yeah? That’s cool,” Chuck sighs. The three others hide their snickers. (Well, to be fair, Ruth snickers pretty openly.)
“Actually, Chuck, it’s very, very hot,” Ruth responds, flicking him lightly in the shoulder. Chuck winces and Ruth apologizes pretty quickly, with three consecutive “I’m sorry”s.
“Agh, stop being nice to me, it’s fucking weird,” Chuck groans, turning back to face Auggie. He’d much rather be seeing Auggie than Ruth. Ruth is weirding him out. The three of them laugh again like there’s something that they know and he doesn’t.
He falls asleep again like that- watching Auggie talk to the others, but not entirely taking in what they’re saying to each other.
Auggie… he’s… wow. He’s real. And he looks so shitty and exhausted, but he’s there. Not dead. Not suffering. So, that’s the best thing ever. Even though he’s not doing… perfect, or anything, but he’s alive, and that’s more than Chuck could have ever asked for. Auggie’s the best person Chuck could ever have in his life.
---
Everything seems weird now.
After Stella explained everything to Chuck, he had just accepted it and moved on. But, for some reason, he hates being around people. Being in close spaces makes him freak the fuck out. He doesn’t like being damp, he doesn’t like being touched, he can’t deal with any room being “more red than normal,” (even he doesn’t know what that means), and he doesn’t like meat anymore, particularly. Red used to be his favorite color. He can’t wear it anymore.
He still kinda wants to die. He thought that would have gone away.
It’s different with Auggie, though. Auggie needs to constantly be around people. He can’t be alone, and he especially can’t be alone in the dark. He sleeps with his light on. There’s a second mattress underneath his bed so that there’s no open space. And sometimes Auggie can’t sleep on his bed, anyways. He’ll sleep on the couch, or use his walkie to call Stella or Chuck. He always hates falling asleep, though. He’s always picking at his fingertips, cuticles, and fingernails. He always talks much lower than he needs to or used to.
Both of them have nightmares.
Chuck knows that Stella has them too, just not nearly as much… or as bad. Ruth too. But, at least, when they have nightmares, they don’t wake up screaming and sweating and crying. It’s fucking embarassing how many times that Chuck has had to be comforted by Ruth.
And, Ruth is another thing. She’s so much more nice to him now. And she’ll regularly hang out with him, Auggie, and Stella. Her and Stella are, like, best friends now, or something, which is odd. They’re so much closer.
To be fair, Auggie and him are inexplicably closer too. Something has shifted in a miniscule way between the two of them.
Chuck feels oddly content with just being in his bed nowadays. It’s so nice to be home. He finds himself even reveling in the sound of the thunderstorm outside his house. The night is beautiful and the rain keeps him calm.
The problem comes when the power goes out.
Now, while Chuck is fine with the dark, Auggie, decidedly, is not. So as soon as the power goes out, Chuck can't help but jerk forward and out of his bed. Because, all he can think about is Auggie. Auggie’s power might not even be off, but he needs to check. (And he would never give up any opportunity to see Auggie, anyways.)
Ruth rushes to come check on him, as she always does when there’s a sudden noise from his room. (It usually means that he’s had a nightmare.) After he assures her that he’s okay, that he just needs to see Auggie, he’s out of there.
He runs down the street in the pouring rain. It’s pouring so hard that immediately as he steps out of his house, he’s soaked. He hates being wet, he hates being wet, but this is for Auggie, so he sucks it the fuck up. The rain pounds against the pavement.
Auggie’s house is only a few blocks away from his. He’s not a very fast runner, but he’s proud to say that he gets there within a minute. To his expectations and fears, all the lights in Auggie’s house are off. He pounds at the door a few times before he gives up and starts scrabbling to grab Auggie’s hidden spare key to shove it into the lock. (He’s not against breaking and entering. It’s not like Auggie’s parents are here, anyways.)
He rushes up the stairs, entirely soaking wet, to get to Auggie’s room. To get to Auggie.
He flings the door open and Auggie flinches. Chuck can barely see, but he’s curled in the corner of his room, shaking and shit. Crying.
(To be honest, Chuck feels pretty close to crying too, the panic of his wet clothes clinging to his skin catching up to him.)
He slowly moves across the room to Auggie, trying not to freak him out too much. Either way, Auggie doesn’t really notice him too much, too caught up in his own world to care about anything else.
Once he reaches Auggie, he carefully pulls him into his arms. Auggie lets out a pained, choked out sob and claws onto Chuck’s wet shirt.
“I’m here,” Chuck whispers. “It’s okay, I’m here. You’re not alone.”
“It… it’s so dark-” Auggie hiccups. “It’s so dark, and I was all alone-”
“You’re not alone anymore.” Chuck pulls him closer. “I’m here.”
Auggie cries a little louder. Chuck is just amazed at his own ability to stay calm for Auggie. He might be able to do anything for Auggie.
As soon as his sobs have calmed down to light hiccups, Auggie laughs and says, “God, you’re all wet.”
“Yeah,” Chuck responds and shudders. “I’m not really having the best experience right now.”
“Yeah, I can assume,” Auggie hugs Chuck tighter for a moment before letting go. “I’ll get you some dry clothes.”
“I can’t wait to wear your monster sized clothes,” Chuck groans sarcastically.
“I’m not that tall, holy shit.” Auggie rolls his eyes, looking more like himself already. Chuck smiles, still feeling rigid.
All the rigidity in Chuck leaves as soon as he’s dry. And they find a lantern and a few flashlights, so Auggie’s looking more comfortable too. They move down into Auggie’s living room, (away from the Godforsaken bed), and settle down on the couch with every snack Chuck can find in Auggie’s pantry.
Auggie still flinches every time thunder booms, but now Chuck is there to distract him. To place a comforting hand on his shoulder to stop his shaking. For Auggie to scrabble closer to when everything gets too much. And, it’s nice for Chuck too, so he can’t complain.
They talk for so long, for so far into the night, yet Chuck still doesn’t know the exact time that the conversation died out for a bit. It has to be after two in the morning. One moment, he and Auggie were groggily talking about music and what they were gonna do the upcoming weekend, the next, Chuck was sipping his Coca Cola in relative silence. Rain was the only sound breaking up the sounds of Auggie carefully opening a granola bar.
Chuck leans back, against the brown couch that he’s always liked better than his own. He lets out a content sigh, downing the rest of his pop.
Auggie sighs, less content.
Chuck turns to him. “What’s wrong, big guy?”
“Just thinking.”
“Penny for your thoughts?”
“Gross, you sound old,” Auggie huffs out, turning away from Chuck.
“Well, I am older than you, so that makes sense.” Chuck grins cheekily.
“Shut up,” Auggie groans. “I don’t know. It’s just… sorry for being a lot to deal with now.”
“You were always a lot to deal with,” Chuck responds. “Kidding, obviously, but, uh, what the hell are you talking about?”
Auggie picks at his fingernails impulsively. Chuck wants to be able to help him with that, to distract him, but they both know that at this point there’s no point in trying to get Auggie to stop that sometimes. “Ever since I got back, I’ve kinda been ruining everyone’s lives by always needing help. Like, shit, you rushed over here in the pouring rain, even though you hate being wet, because you knew I needed help.”
“Yeah,” Chuck says and shrugs, “I was just jacking off, so it’s not a big deal.”
“You’re entirely gross,” Auggie responds, sounding affronted.
“Eh.” Chuck scoots closer to Auggie. “It really doesn’t matter. Me and Stella want to help.”
“I want to help you too.”
“You do.”
Chuck is a little confused by the implication that Auggie doesn’t help Chuck. Because, in reality, Auggie’s been the one keeping Chuck afloat since he got back. Stella and Ruth have helped colossal amounts, of course, but Auggie is… Auggie. Just being around him makes Chuck feel one million times better. Auggie’s always helping him, and it’s odd that he seems to think otherwise. And, not to discredit Stella and Ruth’s work, but Auggie has helped him more than they ever could.
“I don’t know. I feel like you’re always pushing away,” Auggie says, finally turning back to face Chuck.
“It’s not on purpose,” Chuck replies, with guilt building into his stomach. He has been pushing them away. Not entirely, but he just doesn’t understand how he’s supposed to purposely ask for help.
“I know. I know, it’s just difficult,” Auggie sighs. “We’re both so different now. I can’t believe how much we’ve changed.”
“It’s scary, right?” He chuckles. “We missed so much, and somehow came out the other side weirder than anyone who’s actually been living.”
“Yeah, and you were in there longer than me. You missed so much, it’s crazy.”
Chuck dramatically pouts. “I’m just upset that I missed Christmas.”
Auggie rolls his eyes. “Chuck, you are Jewish.”
“Hanukkah, whatever, same deal.”
He doesn’t really know why that made Auggie laugh so hard, but it did. Auggie starts laughing, cute (?!), little snorts escaping from his nose, eyes crinkling around the edges. His cheeks flush and he needs to cover his mouth to try to either conceal or stop the laughter.
Chuck feels a delighted grin make its way onto his face. Real laughs are far and few between with them nowadays. To see Auggie laughing like this, openly, at a stupid thing that Chuck said- well that’s something that spreads undeniable joy in his belly.
And, when Auggie lets his hand fall down to his lap, and his hair is all messed up because he hasn’t brushed it since the morning, and he lets a genuine, beautiful smile peak through his lips and- oh.
Is this what the other boys he knows talk about? They talk about this in reference to girls, but he knew that there were some crazy people out there, some boys who felt this way about other boys, so is it possible that he could… be like that?
Auggie knocks at Chuck’s head. “Stop zoning out. If this is a Steinberg sleepover, we aren’t going to sleep until at least three in the morning.”
Chuck lets out a strangled “huh” sound and dry swallows nothing. He was staring, he realizes that now. “Yeah. Yeah. Sorry.”
“Eh.” Auggie starts picking at his nails again. Chuck recognizes his earlier wants to stop his picking now as wanting to hold his hand. “You know, I, uh… whatever you think that I think about you probably isn’t true.” Auggie looks at Chuck, obvious sincerity in his eyes.
Wow, and Chuck can’t deal with that right now.
Chuck has to resist to kiss the living daylights out of him.
“Wuh… what do you mean?” Chuck asks. Auggie chuckles and flicks his shoulder.
“I don’t hate you, you know? You’re like… my favorite person,” Auggie replies nonchalantly. Like that is a nonchalant thing to say to Chuck right now. God, the nerve of him.
“Yeah, uh,” Chuck mumbles. “You too, man. You’re so important to me.” He doesn’t even know.
“And, I really missed you when you were gone. A lot. Nothing was the same without you being… here, I guess.”
Okay, shit, Chuck, act normal, goddamnit. “Without me fucking things up?”
That’s… normal enough.
Auggie shoves his shoulder. “Yeah, that too. I mean, come on, man, me and Stella hanging out by ourselves was just kinda awkward when you weren’t there.”
Normal is teasing Auggie about his weird crush on Stella, even though Chuck knows what he knows now. So, he does that. He does everyone the way that normal-Chuck would, even though he feels almost fundamentally different now that he’s realized that he has some stupid crush on Auggie. But, Chuck will do anything to let Auggie think that things are normal, even if things are about as far from normal as they possibly can be.
Notes:
the boy's having some issues, but yk what? he'll figure it out
Chapter 4: Chuck And Auggie Get Drunk
Chapter Text
Auggie awakes to a halfhearted pounding at his front door. He could hear it, and for a moment he fears that it’s the woman. The woman’s come to take him away again, and this time she won’t let him go. But, then he heard the shouts and mumbles and he knew that it’s Chuck at his front door, not any corpses.
He guesses his senses have been amplified since everything happened, and he guesses that Chuck is usually more mindful of that. But, this time, he seems more sloppy. He just waits at the door for Auggie to come to get him, instead of letting himself in as usual. Something’s off.
Auggie throws his covers off of his body and rushes down the stairs to meet Chuck at three thirty in the morning on a Wednesday night.
Once Auggie flings the door open, Chuck is stumbling into the house, his balance severely impared. Auggie can only think of the million ways he could have possibly been hurt, and Auggie tries to force those thoughts out of his brain, to not consider any possibility that Chuck isn’t okay. (But he’s here at three in the morning, of course he’s not okay, God.)
Chuck near-collapses against Auggie. Auggie luckily catches him in time, trying to push him upright.
“God, shit, Chuck, are you okay?” Auggie can finally say after the fear lets up a bit and lets his lips move.
“Yah, I’m very okay,” Chuck murmurs. His words do little to nothing to comfort Auggie, but he tries to push that aside and help the other boy.
“Here, let's sit down. You’re looking a little wobbly,” Auggie says and guides Chuck over to his living room couch.
“M also feelin’ a little wobbly,” Chuck nods to himself. “Good observation.”
“Thank you?” Auggie sits Chuck down, and lets himself down next to him. Chuck lets out a giggly hiccup and sinks into the couch cushion. Auggie kinda cautiously pats his back. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Oh, God, Auggie, I am so much more than okay. I am doing great,” Chuck slurs, leaning his head back and sighing in contentment.
Auggie notices how he absolutely stinks of… something. Something that he used to smell on his own fathers breath, every once in a while.
Whiskey is what it was.
Whiskey, and the faint stench of beer.
Auggie shoots out of his seat.
“God, you’re fucking drunk, Chuck!”
Chuck giggles, again, this time more jubilant. “I don’t- hic!- know what you’re talking about.”
“No, you do, and you are drunk, what the actual fuck!” Auggie exclaims and Chuck stops giggling as he sees the anger in Auggie’s face.
“I’m just dealing with… everything,” Chuck complains, outwardly waving his hands, and pouts.
“And… and this is the way you chose to deal?! This incredibly healthy way,” Auggie snorts sarcastically.
Chuck shrugs. “Sure.”
Auggie falls back on the couch. “Shit.”
“It really feels nice,” Chuck slings his arm around Auggie, “You should try it.”
“I’m not gonna…” Auggie groans. “No, Chuck, no. Let’s get you home, okay?”
Chuck frowns. “No, no. No. I don’t want to. Wanna stay here.”
Auggie sighs. “Fine. Fine. Let’s at least get you upstairs and to bed.”
“All this ‘let’s’ business, gosh, gosh, gosh. You know I would do anything for you.”
Auggie actually didn’t know that. It’s an awfully sweet sentiment, even coming from someone who’s not in his right mind. He likes the idea that Chuck is… devoted to him. That sounds odd in his own brain. “Devoted”.
“Yeah, okay, Chuck.” Auggie smiles lightly and holds his hand out for Chuck to take. Chuck giggles and pulls himself up on it, all but stumbling headfirst into Auggie’s chest.
Auggie brings Chuck upstairs while Chuck makes as much noise as possible. (Seemingly, and hopefully, accidentally.)
Auggie sets Chuck down in his bed, but Chuck seems unwilling to lay down.
“I don’t really want to sleep, Auggie, m not tired,” Chuck protests Auggie’s gentle pushes. Auggie groans and flops down beside him.
“You are insufferable,” Auggie grumbles. “God knows why I put up with you.”
“It’s because you actually really like me.” Chuck nods conclusively.
Auggie sighs. “Yeah, I guess I do.”
For some reason, that makes Chuck’s eyes water, and in no time he has to brush stray ears off of his cheeks. It’s weird to see Chuck crying- the last time he saw Chuck crying had to be in second grade or so. His eyes get all puffy and red, and he always used to hiccup much more than the usual person. He still does, but it’s also just possible that’s because he’s drunk.
It’s odd because Auggie knows that Chuck has seen him cry a million times since everything happened, but Chuck almost never cries. (He probably doesn’t like the feeling of dampness.)
“Shit, Chuck.” Auggie tries to brush away the tears on his cheeks. “Shit.”
“Sorry,” Chuck sobs, “I’m sorry.”
“No,” Auggie pushes more tears off of his face. “There’s nothing to be sorry about.”
“No, no, I fucked everything up. Sorry.”
Chuck pulls a flask from his pants pocket, that Auggie didn’t even know was there, and takes a long swig, all the while furiously brushing tears from his eyes.
“Shit. Can I have a sip of that?” Auggie asks, with barely a moment's hesitation. God knows he and Chuck both deserve it.
So, Auggie takes a sip. And then another.
---
Every time Chuck giggles, it’s like someone put the sun in Auggie’s stomach. It is so overwhelmingly nice to be with Chuck, all of a sudden. Well, it always was, but especially now, where everything feels right in his life again.
He and Chuck kept drinking. When they ran out of the whiskey in Chuck’s flask, they tapped into Auggie’s stepfather’s supply of liquor. He probably won’t notice anyways, so it’s fine.
“Y’know, Auggie, I feel like I’m genuinely fucked up now,” Chuck says thoughtfully, “for the rest of my life probably.”
“From the… beer?” Auggie asks, groggily leaning against Chuck. The two of them are sitting against Auggie’s headboard, passing a bottle between them. Auggie winces at the taste of every new sip, Chuck seems too far gone to care.
“No, no. From everything,” Chuck gestures, aggressively and vaguely. Auggie understands what he’s getting at, though.
“Yeah, yeah, me too.” Auggie pushes closer to Chuck, reveling in his warmth even though his stomach is already feeling very warm. Chuck takes a quick breath in.
“I guess that makes us perfect for each other,” Auggie jokes, but it doesn’t particularly feel like a joke.
Chuck lets out a shaky, “Oh God,” and clutches Auggie’s arm. “Lord forgive me,” he mutters, and grabs Auggie’s face. He just sits there, staring, for a moment and then… then.
Well, it’s really hard to explain. He, like, grabs Auggie’s face and presses his lips against Auggie’s lips, not for long, only for a second, oh, he’s… kissing Auggie?
No, Chuck pulled away, looking embarrassed and disappointed in himself, so he kissed Auggie. Past tense. Auggie got kissed by Chuck.
Auggie got kissed by Chuck.
It was so much different than when he kissed Lisa in ninth grade. It was so much better to kiss Chuck.
“Fuck, sorry, sorry,” Chuck rushes. “Sorry, I’m sorry, Auggie. ‘M so drunk, man-”
“Shut up,” Auggie groans and lets his body carry him to Chuck’s lips again.
Everything feels so nice against Chuck. Perfect and away from the rest of the world. He feels safe, which is something he hasn’t felt in a while. Warm, he’s so warm. He lets himself float away in Chuck’s arms, lets himself escape.
After who knows how long, Auggie pushes Chuck away gently.
“Sleep now,” Auggie demands.
Chuck nods in agreement. “Sleep.” He immediately tucks himself under the covers and Auggie doesn’t hesitate before following suit.
They leave the bedroom light on, even though, for the first time in months, Auggie’s not scared.
---
As morning rolls around, Chuck and Auggie are curled up together, holding each other tightly. Chuck doesn’t mind the inhibiting position, for once. In fact, he seems to be completely content with it.
Notes:
kakhdksaj!! theyve finally gotten together! and auggie has finally realized his feelings!! mwahaha
Chapter 5: Ruth Steinberg Loves Her Brother
Notes:
i actually was so excited for this chapter, i love ruth so much, and i was so excited that i got to write her as a good sister again
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chuck would have never thought that at, virtually, any point in his life that he would be dating August Hilderbrandt. His best friend Auggie. Wow, that is weird. But good, he thinks. (Knows.)
Chuck doesn’t want to come on too strong, even though he’s been thinking about this for weeks. Thinking about Auggie for weeks.
The talk the morning after Chuck and Auggie kissed for the first time was possibly the most awkward thing that Chuck’s ever experienced. He had to ask what Auggie meant by the kiss, and then explain what it meant to Chuck. Which was annoying, because he didn’t know how Auggie would react. Luckily, he reacted perfectly well, and everything’s been smooth sailing between them. (Other than the loads of rampant trauma.) Chuck asked Auggie out, and Auggie accepted. They haven’t been on any official dates, it’s mostly just been a lot of hanging out between the two of them.
He thinks that Stella has noticed something different about the two of them, but hasn’t realized the extent of their feelings towards each other. Which is okay with both him and Auggie. They… know that being… homosexuals isn’t a normal thing. Auggie still isn’t totally convinced on the idea that he is one, but Chuck knows that it’s kinda hard to accept it, or whatever. He gets it.
The only issue is that it's kinda hard to hide it from Ruthie. And Chuck loves her, even if they’re both so much different now. She’s his sister. He loves her so much, but she also used to be one of the popular girls. He knows that no one really likes… boys who like other boys, but the popular people are especially mean about it. They don’t like anyone who’s different, especially people who are different in that way. She loves him, he loves her, but there’s no telling how she would react.
He thinks that she might know. Which is… an issue.
A faint knock on his door breaks him out of his thoughts. There is no way that it’s not Ruth. His parents always kind of ignored them. They cared when they cared, but Chuck and Ruth were generally allowed to do what they wanted. They were good parents, though.
“Come in,” Chuck calls out, sitting up on his bed.
Ruth cautiously opens the door. She was never particularly cautious with him before everything happened. It was always totally aggressive between the two of them. Now it’s like she has to walk on eggshells. He can’t tell if he’s grateful or not. She sits down on his bed next to him, keeping her posture straight and her legs crossed.
“So… I have to talk to you,” Ruth starts. Chuck feels his stomach sink.
“I assumed. Yeah, I assumed,” he breathes out.
“I love you. I’ll always love you,” Ruth says and turns to Chuck, putting her hand on his. “You know that, right?”
Chuck nods. “I love you too.”
“No matter what, I’ll love you,” Ruth says.
“No matter what,” Chuck repeats, now uncomfortable with this spontaneous show of affection. It’s like the calm before the storm, or something, because he knows that the more serious topics will be following this, and he’s not sure that he wants to talk about those… topics.
“So…” Ruth clears her throat and turns to face the wall. “And, don’t take this the wrong way, please, I’m not trying to call you out or be mean.”
Chuck takes a cautious breath. “Okay.”
“It’s okay if you don’t… like girls.”
Chuck goes rigid and feels the need to curl up in a ball and die with shame. Because that’s what it is; shameful.
“I’ve… you’ve never really had a crush on a girl, have you? I mean, for a while I thought you might like Stella, but how you act with Stella is nothing like… with-”
Chuck knows that she was gonna say “Auggie,” but, luckily, she cuts herself off, because Chuck covers his face with his hands. “Ruthie, please,” he mutters, muffled, into his palms. “Spare me the pain.” (He’s at least glad that she’s not reacting badly.)
She sighs, almost dejected. “I’m sorry. I just want you to know that it’s okay. You’re okay, and it’s okay if you’re like that.” She stands up, presumably to walk away, and Chuck almost lets her, just to get out of the awkward situation.
But, then he’s thinking, and he’s thinking of how they’ve interacted throughout their entire childhoods. She’s never reached out, never tried to comfort him like she does now. She would be unrelentingly brutal, and recently she’s been too kind. This is her finding her footing. Finding that middle ground where they can still be themselves, but with what’s changed about them and their relationship. He wants to let her find that. He wants them to be okay.
So, he drags his hands down his face, groans, and says the words that he’s only said to Auggie. (And, only once.) Because, he knows that she’s ready, and he’s as ready as he ever will be.
“I’m a homosexual.”
She stops right in her tracks for a moment before turning around and flinging herself at Chuck, possibly at the speed of light. She throws her arms around his neck, and kisses into his hair, something she only did when he was really young.
He hesitates before placing his arms around her back, holding her tightly.
“I’m sorry for forcing the subject on you,” Ruth whispers. “I just… wanted to help. And coming into your room to wake you up and seeing you and Auggie cuddling got painful at some point.”
Chuck nearly gasps in horror. “You’ve seen that?!”
She chuckles and hugs him tighter in response. “Yeah. It’s really cute, by the way.”
“Gross, no.”
Ruth presses another kiss into his hair before pulling away. “But, I got that right, didn’t I? You and Auggie are a thing?”
Chuck frowns. “Yeah, I guess we’re dating.”
“You guess?” Ruth teases, ruffling his hair.
“Oh my God, you are such a dick,” Chuck groans, falling back into his headboard. “Yes, I’m dating Auggie. Shut up about it, we’re not trying to die here.”
The blonde girl responds with a sort of sad smile. “I won’t tell anyone. Not even Stella. I’m here for you, though.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Chuck gets out of his bed and stretches. “That’s enough love for the day, I’m all affection-ed out. I’m gonna head to Auggie’s to get bullied.”
Ruth laughs. “Yeah, sure you are. For all I know, you guys are just gonna kiss the whole time.”
Chuck flips her off, and leaves the room with her trailing behind him.
---
Chuck swings open the door of Auggie’s room.
“Wow, knock, would ya?” Auggie deadpans, not even looking up from the book he was reading.
“Your fault for leaving the front door open,” Chuck retorts, throwing a Snickers at Auggie. (He did not like them as much as Auggie did, and so started a habit of giving Auggie all of his Snickers. At least he got all of Auggie’s Whoppers in return.)
Chuck dramatically falls back onto Auggie’s bed, right onto his stomach. Auggie makes a punched out “augh” noise, half in surprise, half in pain.
“What the fuck, Chuck,” Auggie snaps and slaps at Chuck’s head. Chuck swats him away.
“Ruthie knows about our forbidden love,” Chuck sighs, once again, dramatically.
“What?” Auggie sits up, effectively pushing Chuck off of him, and carefully puts a bookmark in his book, placing it off to the side. “She does?”
Chuck nods, solemnly. “She coaxed the information out of me, with a false sense of security.”
Auggie looks entirely unsure of himself. “Is she okay with it?” He hesitantly asks.
Chuck rubs a thumb across his cheek and grins. “Yup. I was worried that she wouldn’t take it well, but she was pretty happy for us. I guess she’s just glad that I finally got someone.”
Auggie lets out a sigh of relief. “That’s good. I’m glad. I’m actually starting to genuinely enjoy hanging out with her, as weird as that sounds.”
“Yeah, me too.” Chuck shrugs. “I guess she’s part of the little group now. We’ll have to tell Ramón about it,” he jokes to himself, and nudges Auggie in the leg.
Auggie snorts. “No doubt Stella’s already told him.”
Chuck nods in agreement. “No doubt at all.”
He smiles. Auggie leans over and kisses him. It’s nice like this.
---
In the end, Auggie and Chuck spend hours cuddling on Auggie’s bed. And making out. Just a little. Maybe Ruth was right, they kissed a lot. (Chuck’s not even remotely ashamed.)
Notes:
ruthie should be part of their friend group tbh, i will stand by that
Chapter 6: Ramón Morales Returns Home
Notes:
okay.. imma be honest... ive like.... never really focused on a straight couple like this before?? ive honestly never written a straight couple kissing before this. maybe that just shows how gay i am...
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Ramón consistently received letters from Stella in the year that he’s been gone. He often couldn’t write back, but he tried to if he could. He knows about Chuck and Auggie being back, he knows about Tommy Milner, and he knows about Stella’s newfound friendship with Ruth. He doesn’t know much beyond that, though, because he honestly didn’t receive a lot of the letters that Stella sent. Some of them got lost or destroyed, so he has a feeling that he’s missed out on a lot.
On the bright side, he didn’t get too badly hurt in the war. Emotionally and mentally he was definitely very damaged, but at this point, the way that Stella described Chuck and Auggie, he thinks that they might have had it worse than him. War is better than literal hell, in his book. But, physically, Ramón only had a broken right leg and a bullet in his arm, which was dealt with pretty easily. The broken leg, though, was his jackpot. That ended up being his ticket out of the war. He couldn’t fight with it. (Though the doctor did say that he might walk with a limp the rest of his life.)
So, he was allowed to go back to Stella. It’s indescribable how much he missed her. He knows they were never technically dating, or anything, but he’s gonna ask her out as soon as he can.
Once he gets off of the bus, he knows not to expect anyone waiting for him. He doesn’t think anyone even knows he’s getting back yet, so it would be kind of hard for people to come pick him up. So, instead, he gets on another bus to get back to Mill Valley. He has just enough money for it, which is very lucky on his part.
Mill Valley is just as unexciting as he remembers. It’s a semi-sad small Pensylavanian town that would have been completely uninteresting if it weren’t for Stella, Chuck, and Auggie. (And Sarah was a big part of making it interesting, too, he thinks.)
He finds his way to Stella’s house, hobbling a bit on his crutches, but overall stable. Her house seems to be a haven compared to what he’s seen in the past year. He can’t wait to be safe and warm. He can’t wait to see his friends again. He can’t wait to get closer with Ruth, and actually have a substantial conversation with Stella’s dad. He’s missed all of the arbitrary aspects of normal life and, hell, he can’t wait to do all of that stuff too.
He clutches his bag tightly to his stomach, and manages to limp over to the front door, hoping to be welcomed in by Stella. He lands a few firm knocks on the front door before he hears footsteps making their way over to where Ramón is standing.
The door opens a crack, and, already, someone’s talking. “Ruth, weren’t you going to get here in an hour-” Auggie stops in his tracks, staring at Ramón, and takes a moment.
“Hi,” Ramón says, grinning through his teeth.
“You are… not Ruth,” Auggie remarks.
“I am not,” Ramón agrees.
Auggie hesitates before, seemingly, making a decision. He pokes Ramón in the forehead. “And you are real.”
“…Yes. I am real,” Ramón replies, a little confused, if he’s being honest.
Auggie slams the door shut, and yells Stella’s name, (very audibly, even through the thick wooden door). There’s some more shuffling and some heavy footsteps over to the door.
He hears Stella worriedly ask Auggie if he’s okay, and Ramón desperately wants to open the door and see her. He knows not to open the door by himself, as that would be impolite, but it does take all of his willpower not to use his good leg to break the door down and see her.
He hears Auggie say Ramón’s name in response to her, and then there’s some incomprehensible whispering that keeps him waiting in the autumn winds.
Then, the door swings open, dramatically, and it’s almost like everything else fades into slow motion. Her beautiful red-brown hair, curling more than it did the last time he saw her. It’s been a year. She’s older. She’s changed so much and Ramón wants to know how much has changed about her. He wants to learn everything about her.
She adjusts her glasses. They stand there for another five seconds, before she flings herself at him, seemingly unaware of the injuries he’s sustained. He winces slightly, his crutch dropping to the floor, because she’s holding him tight enough to support him. He’s still in pain, but Stella’s here, and she’ll help, and who fucking cares.
“Hi,” Ramón whispers, still kind of strained because of the slight pain he’s in.
“Oh, God, Ramón,” Stella murmurs. “I missed you. I didn’t know you would be back so soon.”
“Me neither,” he chuckles in response, “Thank God for a broken leg, right?”
Stella gasps and pulls away. “Broken leg?! Are you okay?”
Ramón grabs her hand and nods. “Totally.”
“Ew,” Chuck’s voice comes out from behind the both of them. “Get a room.”
Ramón smiles and steps to the side of Stella so that Chuck and Auggie come back into view. “So glad to see you too Chuck. And alive!”
Chuck grins elbowing Auggie in his side, to which Auggie sighs and rolls his eyes. “Me and Auggie are back and good as new!!”
“I wouldn’t say good as new,” Auggie snarks and elbows Chuck in the side too. “We’re glad to see you alive too.” Auggie nods at Ramón.
Stella squeezes Ramón’s arm. “Come on in. We were just making dinner.”
“I can’t wait for actually good food,” Ramón almost moans in anticipation. Stella smiles and nods. Chuck snorts in laughter while Auggie ruffles his hair, almost affectionately. (Something’s off about them.)
Later in the night when Ruth arrives at Stella’s house, she’s surprised by the sight of Stella and Ramón sitting together in the dining room. Ramón tries to stand up to greet her, but his leg almost crumples, so Stella pulls him back down.
“Hi, Ramón,” Ruth grins, sitting down next to Auggie, across from Ramón.
“Hey,” Ramón responds, holding his hand out for a handshake.
Chuck takes a very loud slurp from his pop.
Ruth takes it and shakes his hand lightly. “We’ve never really talked, so nice to meet you.”
Ramón nods, “Nice to meet you. Stella’s spoken so highly of you, I’m so glad to finally be able to get to know you.”
Ruth laughs, and teasingly smiles at Stella. “You talk about me?”
Stella laughs back, and Chuck slurps his drink even louder. Auggie swats at his shoulder.
“Come on, Chuck, don’t be a dick,” Auggie flicks his forehead, “Ramón just got home. Let’s be polite here.”
Chuck makes a point of slurping his drink as loudly as possible.
Ramón likes the way that sounds. Home. This could definitely be his home.
After a few hours of joking around, playing games, and catching Ramón up on everyone’s lives, Chuck clears his throat, awkwardly. “Me and Auggie better be getting home,” Chuck nods down at his bottle. Auggie nods too.
Ruth smiles at them, somewhat knowingly, and gets up to place a kiss on Chuck’s head.
“Augh!” Chuck shoves her away. “Gross. Ew. How dare you.” He hops out of his seat, pulling Auggie up with him. “Let’s go!”
“Don’t rush me, Chuck,” Auggie grunts.
“Yeah, don’t rush him,” Stella adds, “He’s an old man.”
Auggie flips her off.
Ramón smiles at them. He can’t believe how much he ever missed them.
Chuck and Auggie are out of the house pretty quickly after that.
They were acting pretty off from how he remembered them the whole night, actually. They were much closer and more affectionate. They sat very close to each other, and whispered things that only the other could hear. (Ramón knew that they were discussing the food at some point, and while Auggie looked a little apprehensive, Chuck grabbed his hand and comforted him.) They shared a lot of silent moments and smiles, and even shared one pop with each other.
They were acting really close.
They were acting like… a couple.
Ramón blinks to himself. “Are they together?” He asks, not really thinking about the question.
Ruth spits out the water that was in her more. Stella almost chokes.
“What?!” They both exclaim at the same time.
“How do you know about that?!” Ruth gapes. Stella whips her head around to Ruth.
“They’re dating?!” She squeaks.
“Oh, shit, they actually are?!” Ramón splutters. “That was just a guess!!”
“Shit!” Ruth groans. “You guys were not supposed to know about that. Chuck’s gonna murder me.”
Stella squeezes her eyes shut, groans, and her head falls down on the table with a light thump. “That actually makes so much sense, I cannot believe that I didn’t notice.”
Ramón lightly squeezes her shoulder. “It’s okay. I mean, it’s not entirely conventional, anyways. They’re good together, though.”
“You’re comforting me, but you literally understood they were dating right away,” Stella groans. He pats her back once again.
“I can’t believe I let you guys know,” Ruth sighs. “But, uh… you’re okay with it, though, right?”
Stella lifts her head, her eyes turning soft. “Yeah. They’re my best friends. I’ll always love them.”
Ramón nods. “I’m not as close to them, but, honestly, they’re still some of the best friends I’ve ever had.”
Ruth nods. “That’s good.” She smiles. “You know I love you guys too, right?”
Stella nods. Ramón nods too, even though he doesn’t know her very well. He loves her too.
---
This time, when Ramón stays the night, Stella and her dad set up an actual area for him to live in, in the basement. But, Ramón’s not gonna be sleeping, he doesn’t think. Stella sits with him in the basement, continuing to talk with him throughout the night.
Even when they both get tired and are yawning, almost falling asleep, they continue talking, leaning against each other and clutching each other’s hands tightly. They talk about Chuck and Auggie and Ruth, and what jobs Stella’s thinking about getting, and how she’s finally ready to get her drivers license, they talk about the war and Ramón’s experiences, they talk about anything and everything they can.
Ramón missed her so much.
At some point, Stella smiles, and kisses his stubbly cheek. “It’s almost four in the morning.” She points at the bug-themed clock perched on a dusty shelf in the corner.
“That it is,” Ramón replies.
They stare at each other for a moment.
“Can I kiss you?” Ramón asks, lightly thumbing at her cheek.
“We haven’t even gone on a date yet,” she laughs.
He frowns and sighs. “Fine. Do you wanna go on a date with me, Stella?”
“Sure,” she grins, “That would be fun.” Then, she kisses him square on the lips and darts out of the room before he can even respond.
His fingers brush over his own lips, savoring the feeling.
He thinks he might love that girl.
Notes:
oh wow! this is the end!! i hope you liked this, at least a little!!!
thank you so much for reading!!
tumblr is here!!
thefruitrollup on Chapter 1 Wed 21 Feb 2024 08:30PM UTC
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vampireboyluvrr on Chapter 3 Tue 02 Aug 2022 10:49PM UTC
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DumpsterBeagle on Chapter 3 Mon 15 Aug 2022 03:17AM UTC
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